


sleep for heck sake

by VexedVixen



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Sharing a Bed, rated M solely for the fact the game itself is rated M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:20:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22229323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VexedVixen/pseuds/VexedVixen
Summary: Dwight and Jake both have nightmares and find comfort in each other.
Relationships: Dwight Fairfield/Jake Park
Comments: 13
Kudos: 75





	sleep for heck sake

Jake jumped at the sound of a cry.

  
He sat up, looking towards the nearby campfire. Almost everyone else was around it and asleep. The only one not asleep was Quentin, who was still only about ten feet away from the campfire, seated and leaning against a tree as he organized his medkits. The other survivors were scattered around the campfire, though, sleeping on their assorted bed rolls, old mattresses, and blankets that they had scavenged.

  
Claudette, Kate, and Meg slept in a pile on top of two old mattresses shoved together, sharing several blankets. Feng and Nea shared another mattress next to them. Jeff slept against one of the many logs surrounding the fire. Adam and Ash were on either side of Jeff, more or less using the larger man as a pillow. Ace and Jane were each in their respective bed rolls, but had pushed them closer and closer to Laurie’s bed roll over time. David slept by himself, wrapped up in blankets. The group had scavenged materials and managed to make three hammocks. They hung on trees not far from the campfire. Bill was in one and Tapp in the other, while Jake occupied the third. And lastly, Dwight slept on top of an ancient mattress of his own.

  
Jake scanned the others and the campfire, searching for the source of the noise he had heard. Jake noticed Dwight flinch from afar and not a moment later, heard a strangled gasp as he awoke.

  
Dwight jumped, pushing his chest of the mattress to look around the campfire frantically. After a moment, his shoulders slumped and his frantic breathing slowed. He was calming down. Jake could hear Dwight sigh as he moved to sit and lean against a log.

  
Nightmare by the look of it. Common here, really. They all had their fair share of nightmares. Being killed over and over in an eternal loop of death would do that you.

  
Jake watched from his hammock as Dwight reached for his glasses and then a canteen to get a drink of water. He wondered if he should go over and say something. Talk to Dwight to make sure he was okay. That was what you were supposed to do after someone you know suffers from a nightmare, after all. Comfort them and let them talk about it if they wanted to. The other survivors always did it for each other. If one jumped awake, screaming or crying from a nightmare (because of course they got that bad), the others were there to help. There was no shame about it, especially here. Jake, however, was not very good at that. Talking to or comforting people. He could hardly handle normal conversations. It might be awkward. He would be awkward…

  
But as Jake watched Dwight run a shaky hand through his hair, he found himself slipping out of his hammock and over to the campfire anyway. “Hey,” Jake greeted quietly as he moved to sit down next to Dwight.

Dwight jumped, but relaxed immediately when he realized it was just Jake. “Jake, hey! Sorry, did I wake you?”

  
Jake shook his head. “Wasn’t asleep yet.” He had just been dozing, really. The group liked to have one or two people awake at a time to keep watch. Nothing bad had ever happened at the campfire, but in the Entity’s realm it was better to be safe than sorry.

  
“Oh.” Dwight turned back to look around the campfire, making sure he did not wake anyone else. He removed his glasses after doing so to rub his eyes.

  
Jake watched. “You good?”

  
“Good?” Dwight cleaned his glasses on the bottom of his shirt before putting them back on. His eyes had bags underneath them and his gaze seemed distant. “Oh, yeah.”

  
Jake frowned, doing nothing to hide his disbelief. “You sure?”

  
Dwight just shrugged.

  
“Nightmare, right?” Jake waited for Dwight to respond and took the silence as a yes, so he offered, “You wanna talk about it?”

  
Dwight grimaced and kept his gaze on the fire. “Does anyone ever really wanna talk about it?”

  
Jake leaned against the log and looked up at the starless sky above them. “No,” he said. “But I offered so I’ll listen.”

  
Dwight paused before admitting, “You don’t want to hear about it, trust me.”

  
“Try me.”

  
“No, it-it was really bad.”

  
“Talking about it is supposed to make you feel better.”

  
“I’m the one who keeps saying that, you know,” Dwight pointed out. He sighed before continuing, “And talking about it is supposed to help, I think. But here? In this messed up place I-I just don’t know anymore…”

Now Jake shrugged. “Think of it as a head start in therapy, I guess? Since we’re all going to need extensive amounts of therapy once we get out of this hellhole.”

  
Dwight smiled a little at that. “You think we’ll actually get out of here one day and be able to go to therapy?”

  
“Yeah, one day,” Jake replied, sounding more certain than he actually felt. “Entity will either get sick of our shit or we’ll find some way to slip out.”

  
Dwight snorted, “Yeah, I hope.”

  
They were quiet for a few moments.

  
Jake looked around the campfire, making sure they had not woken any of the others before looking back over at Dwight. He did not want to push, but he really did want to help… “You sure you don’t want to talk?” Jake pressed one last time.

  
Dwight weakly shrugged again, uncertain.

  
Jake waited.

  
“It… was the Trapper,” Dwight eventually said quietly.

  
Their nightmares were seldom about anything other than the killers they faced in trials these days. Sure, some of them had demons and problems back in the real world and not the Entity’s realm, but when you faced death on a daily basis thanks to the same killers over and over again, they tended to consume your nightmares.

  
Dwight went on, “Just… the usual bad stuff. Some of you guys were there, I was there, obviously. Caught in a trap, what else? And it was just him, doing bad things to you guys and me and it-it was just bad.”

  
Jake nodded. The Trapper was actually one of the easier killers to go against in Jake’s opinion. Of course, he was the only one who had mastered the art of dismantling and destroying the Trapper’s traps. It was a challenge. It took a lot of time to do in trials, so Jake could only manage to break a couple, but it helped. Less traps to worry about. Which was usually exactly what the survivors needed. It was always hard to watch where you step when being chased by a bloodthirsty, mask-wearing killer with a large machete. So, Jake felt good going against the Trapper, knowing he could stop traps to help his friends and also piss off the killer at the same time. But Jake also knew Dwight did not feel the same way. Each survivor had their poison of a killer, one they particularly had a rough time with or hated facing in a trial. And, to put it lightly, Dwight tended to be a trap magnet.

  
Dwight sighed again after a pause. “I really don’t want to get into the awful details…”

  
“That’s fine.”

  
“But I also don’t really feel any better,” Dwight also admitted apologetically.

  
Jake frowned. “Anything else that would help?”

  
Dwight smiled again, slightly tickled that Jake was still so worried. “Tea sounds good and I know Claudette has some left, but I don’t want to wake anyone up just to make some.” He paused before shaking his head and saying, “Unless you know some way to stop nightmares, I’m not sure there’s much you could do.”

  
“If I knew a way to do that, not only would I have already told everybody, but Quentin would also probably like me a lot more.”

  
Dwight snorted as he looked away, “Yeah, good point.”

  
Jake watched Dwight for a few moments. He stared slightly ahead, past the campfire and at the sleeping/cuddling pile of Claudette, Kate, and Meg. Jake turned to look at them, too. He was quick to turn his gaze back to Dwight, back to the girls, back to Dwight, and finally back to the pile once more. Oh. _Oh_. Jake awkwardly cleared his throat before asking Dwight, "You gonna try and go back to sleep?”

  
Dwight’s amused smile was gone. “Yeah, I should probably try. Trials were hell today, so…” he trailed off, gaze dropped and lowered to the ground.

  
Now or never, Jake supposed. “Can… can I stay?” he asked, not looking at Dwight but at the fire in front of them.

  
“What?” Dwight was confused.

  
“You know, stay with you. Here.”

Dwight still looked puzzled. “I don’t care where you sleep, Jake, but I thought you liked sleeping in the hammock more than by the fire?”

  
Dwight was not getting it. “No, no.” Jake finally turned to face Dwight, to better explain, “Can I… you know, stay here? With you? And sleep with- no, not sleep with you, just, you know…” Oh, he was bad at this. With a defeated sigh, Jake jerked his head once in the direction of the nearby cuddle pile and then nodded down to the mattress Dwight slept on. “Can I?”

  
It took Dwight a moment to get what Jake was getting at, but once he did, his face turned bright red in surprise. “Oh! What- really?”

  
Jake nodded.

  
“Really?” Dwight repeated, like he could not believe it. “What… Why?” He knew Jake. It was well-known that Jake was not a people person, let alone someone who would cuddle of all things. His type of comfort was more so on the side of listening intently and giving awkward yet sympathetic pats on the back. Which was fine, different strokes for different folks. But it was just so different from the usual and Dwight might have been second-guessing Jake’s intentions, assuming it to be a trick or something. He did not believe Jake would do something like that at all, to be honest, but his anxiety was more than active these days.

  
“Because nightmares here are the absolute worst and I want to.”

  
Dwight just stared for a few moments before he started to ramble, “Uh… You-you really don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, that sounds fine, but like I also said, I know you prefer your hammock. And me having a nightmare is no big deal, believe me, but I-I…”

  
“If you don’t want to, it’s fine. I won’t take any offense,” Jake said as Dwight started to trail off. “It’s just an offer.”

  
Dwight shook his head. “No, it’s fine! I do- I mean, we can, I just-” He cut himself off again with a frown and a sigh. Dwight finally just motioned with his hand to the mattress he was sitting on. “I don’t have any blankets or anything, but feel free.”

  
Jake nodded as he scooted over to the mattress. As Dwight moved to settle back down, Jake slipped his green jacket off and once Dwight lay down, placed it over him.

  
Dwight froze. “Jake, no, you don’t have to-”

  
“You said you wanted a blanket,” Jake interrupted nonchalantly as he laid down on his back next to Dwight. It was a small, twin sized mattress and it was a tight fit for the two of them. They were shoulder to shoulder.

  
“No, I said I didn’t have any,” Dwight replied. “Not that I needed one, let alone your jacket.” With a huff, he pushed the jacket off a little, somehow scooted even closer to Jake, and pushed half the jacket over Jake. Dwight took his glasses off and placed them atop the log right next to the mattress. He settled back down with another huff before turning on his side. With how close they were, Dwight’s head was practically cradled in Jake’s shoulder.

  
There were a few moments of silence. Jake peeked down out of the corner of his eye a few times, tense and doing his best not to move.

  
“Is this okay?”

  
Dwight’s breath tickled Jake’s neck as he asked the question and it gave him goosebumps, even though he was far from cold. “Yeah, if you’re fine, I’m fine,” Jake replied.

  
Dwight gave a small nod. There was a pause before he opened his eyes and looked at Jake. “Jake.”

  
Jake looked over at Dwight, whose face was ridiculously close to his own. So close that their noses were practically touching. And Dwight’s eyes were not as brown as Jake thought. This close, Jake could tell they were more of a hazel. Slightly transfixed, Jake waited.

  
Dwight did not move, either. “Thanks,” he quietly said.

  
“No problem.”

  
Dwight smiled and relaxed a little more. He did not look away, but let his eyelids start to droop. Dwight breathed deeply through his nose and again Jake felt goosebumps, but he did not mind. He smiled back down at Dwight as the other survivor’s eyes closed. Jake was transfixed again it seemed, but quickly felt his own eyes start to get heavy. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and relaxed. Soon, the only sounds that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the snores of their fellow survivors.

  
Until Jake heard a quiet, “Goodnight.” And then they were both gone and asleep.

  
.

  
.

  
.

  
“Jake.”

  
Jake did not stir.

  
“Jake.”

  
He still did not wake, but Jake did shudder again in his sleep and Dwight swore he heard a whine, too.

  
“Jake!” One last time, louder this time. Dwight also put a hand on Jake’s shoulder and gave it a little shake.

  
Jake yelped, waking up and bolting upright. He immediately lost his balance, flailed, and promptly fell off his hammock and face first into the dirt below. Looking around frantically, Jake started to push himself up off the ground.

  
“Hey, hey,” Dwight said softly as he immediately bent down to Jake’s level. “It’s okay, it’s okay! You’re safe, you’re at the campfire.” He reached out and put his hand on Jake’s shoulder again, waiting for Jake to take a few deep breaths before he continued, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you. You looked like you were having a bad dream and I-I didn’t… I’m sorry.” Dwight pulled his hand back with a guilty look.

  
Jake sat back on the ground and shook his head. “No, you’re fine,” Jake said faintly. “And it was, I just… haven’t had one that bad in a while.”

  
Dwight nodded in understanding. “You okay?”

  
“I’m good,” Jake replied. He looked down at his jacket, which was now covered in dirt. “A little dirty, but okay.”

  
“Here,” Dwight said and offered Jake a canteen.

  
Jake had not even noticed Dwight had that. He readily took it and took a drink before pulling a rag out from one of his pockets. He wiped his face off before setting the rag aside to dust his jacket off.

  
Dwight looked guilty again. “Sorry.”

  
Jake shook his head. “It’s no problem…” he trailed off with a grimace. He took his jacket off to shake it out even more.

  
Dwight watched for a moment before he asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

  
“What? Oh, no.”

  
“Talking about it is supposed to make you feel better.”

  
Jake’s grimace turned into a little smile as he stopped waving his jacket around. “So I’ve been told, but no, I don’t want to talk about it. I want to go back to sleep without having another godawful nightmare.”

  
“Oh,” Dwight said and somehow managed to look even more guilty. “Yeah, I’ll leave so you can go back to sleep, sorry. Wouldn’t be much help with the dream part, anyway.” He stood up.

  
Jake jumped up, too. “No, wait.”

  
Dwight stopped. “What?”

  
“You can.”

  
“Can what?”

  
“You can help.”

  
“Oh, I’m all ears, then.”

  
Jake rolled his eyes and his little grin was still there. “No, Dwight, no. I said I don’t want to talk about it, I want go back to sleep.” He reached over to the hammock and pushed it a little. “Join me?”

  
“Uh,” was all Dwight got out at first. “In your hammock?”

  
To be honest, they had spent several nights curled together at the campfire. Again, it was not all that unusual for the survivors to share what little beds and blankets they had, especially when someone had a rough night. It was not something Dwight or Jake had done much of before until these past few weeks or so. Now that they had discovered the appeal of sleeping next to another person, though, it had become something very comforting, which was not often found in the Entity’s realm. They both indulged, of course. And Dwight wanted to right now, he really did, and he really did not think it was that big of an issue…

  
After Jake nodded in response to his question, Dwight hesitantly asked, “Are you sure there’s room?”

  
“It’s the biggest hammock out of the three we have, yeah.”

  
While that was true, it was still just that. A hammock. Two people could fit onto it, sure, but they would be _very_ close. Their time curled together on mattress next to the fire had consisted mostly of sleeping shoulder to shoulder, maybe a knee jabbing into a thigh or waking up with an arm across a chest, and the like. Nothing quite as snug as the hammock. And snug was fine with Dwight, honestly! It seemed to be okay with Jake as well, but…

  
Dwight cast a glance behind himself to make sure no one was awakened by their talking. He was taking too long to reply and after another moment, he admitted, “Knowing my luck, I think I would fall out of the hammock before I fall asleep in it.”

  
“What? Nah, you’ll be fine.”

  
Jake’s smile was easygoing and despite just falling on his face a few minutes ago, he seemed relaxed. It was hard for Dwight not to smile back. “I mean, if you’re sure it’s safe…”

  
“Safe enough. I mean, you could fall, but that was the first time I fell out,” Jake pointed out. “So I think you’ll be fine, but if you’re that worried about it, though, you don’t have to.”

  
“No, I can,” Dwight answered as he walked over to the hammock to push it a little bit. “Just promise you won’t get upset when I fall off and wake you up again.”

  
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again, Jake just shook his head before replying, “You won’t, you’ll be fine.” He sat down in the hammock, pushed his feet off the ground, and leaned back into it. The hammock swung a little at the added weight of Jake, but after a few seconds settled. “See? Totally fine. Come on.” He patted the side of the hammock, like there was plenty of room.

  
There was not plenty of room.

  
Dwight realized he would practically have to sit on Jake just to get on the hammock. Not to mention when they lay down, they would be so close, squished together. Dwight felt his face heat up as he began to overthink it. Would this be too close? Would this be awkward? What if the others said something? Red in the face, Dwight had to be sure and ask again, “Are-are you sure this is okay?”

  
“Yes.”

  
Dwight still hesitated. “What if I can’t even get on at all? Watch me try only to immediately fall off.”

  
“Just go to sit, lean back, and lie down.”

  
“Are you sure- I mean, we’ll be really close. I-I don’t want to suffocate you in your sleep or-or anything like that.”

  
Jake snorted, “You weigh less than me, trust me. It’ll be fine.”

  
“Uh, okay,” Dwight said but did not move. He eventually reached an arm out after a few too many seconds and touched the edge of the hammock. Dwight started to move, stopped, reached his other arm out, and then stopped again. His face was screwed up and he was still overthinking this entirely.

  
Jake was over it. He reached out now and grabbed Dwight’s arm, yanking the other down.

  
Dwight barely suppressed a yelp as he tumbled across Jake. The hammock creaked and swung with the added weight. Dwight tried to roll into the hammock like Jake just had, trying to align his body next to Jake’s. It was not going too well. He was more so still on top of Jake and after the other gave one too many grunts of pain, Dwight froze and apologized, “Sorry, sorry!”

  
“You’re fine,” Jake wheezed. “Just get your knees out of my gut and relax.”

  
Dwight winced. “Sorry.” He tried to move, causing the hammock to once again swing back and forth. He froze again.

  
“Here.” While his left arm steadied the hammock, Jake reached his right arm up and around Dwight’s midsection and promptly yanked him down.

  
Dwight fully collapsed down onto Jake now. He rolled over a bit, trying to keep at least some of his body off Jake. About half of his body ended up off Jake and cradled into the hammock now.

  
“Scoot any further away and you’ll fall,” Jake warned. He still somewhat had his arm around Dwight. “Move back a bit, you’re crushing my arm.”

  
Dwight felt his face start to heat up again. “I-I don’t want to crush the rest of you!”

  
“Well, right now you’re crushing my arm,” Jake said. “ _And_ I suppose if I didn’t actually want you laying on top of me, crushing me, I wouldn’t have invited you up here in the first place, now would I?” He just grinned when Dwight started to sputter. Jake was often this blunt, but given their current position it was a little more embarrassing and somehow still surprising.

  
“That-that was so- I can’t believe you just said that!” Dwight eventually hissed. “That just- I should leave my knees in your gut and crush your arm for the rest of the night!”

  
“Sorry, if that was a bit much,” Jake apologized, grin dropping with worry.

  
“Well,” Dwight said after the moment of embarrassment passed. He rolled back a bit and relaxed against Jake’s side. “I also suppose if I really didn’t want to be up here, I wouldn’t be up here right now, would I?”

  
Jake felt his face heat up now and his grin quickly returned. He moved his arm up a bit to put it more around Dwight’s shoulders. In turn, Dwight moved his head so it was resting against Jake’s shoulder and Jake just about melted right then and there. Their bodies were pressed close together and their legs tangled, but Jake would not have it any other way.

  
“Oh, here,” he unfortunately said right after they got comfy. “Let me take your glasses.”

  
Dwight took them off and handed them over without a word. Jake took them with his other hand and moved to balance them on a branch above. He then settled back down.

  
“Thanks.”

  
Jake gave a nod. He moved his now free hand to Dwight’s back, where he started to rub small, soothing circles into the muscles. Dwight closed his eyes and sighed and Jake felt that now familiar breath tickle his neck. Jake wiggled his leg free from underneath Dwight’s legs and hung it off the side of the hammock to give it a little kick. The hammock swung gently a few times. Jake did it again several times, content. Next to him, Dwight’s breath started to even out and Jake felt his own body tire, wanting to sleep as well. Moving his leg back, Jake relaxed.

  
Snug in the hammock, he offered a quiet, “Goodnight.” And then Jake quickly joined Dwight in slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> takes me a while just to write one fic oof. almost been a year since i wrote a dbd fic big oof


End file.
